Garage-door opener



June 5, 1923.

A. A. UNRUH' GARAGE DOOR OPENER Filed Nov. 5, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet l June 5, 1923. I 1,457,642

A. A. UNRUH GARAGE DOOR OPENER Filed Nov. 5, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 0 3 Z anoemtoz 1 42 /lg wimwa Patented June 5, 1923.

I UNITE ALBERT A. UNRUH,

GARAGE-DOOR OPENER.

Application filed November 3, 1921. Serial 110 512576.

T all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT A. UNRUH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portland,in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garage-Door Openers; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled 10 in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. 7

My invention relates to improvements in door releasing and operating means and more particularly to those intended primarily'for use upon hinged garage doors.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a novel releasing means for the door or doors whichis controlled by depressible members at the outside of the garage so as to automatically releasethe doors and permit them to open when a machine is driven up to enter the garage, novel provision being made, however, whereby the operating conneotions may be rendered inoperative at the will of the operator, so that no unauthorized person may open the garage and remove the 'mac e. v I

With the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel subject matter hereinafter described and claimed, the descriptive matter being supplementedvby the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is an inner side elevation of, a pair of doors and their frame showing the application of my invention thereto.

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view as indicated by line 22,-of Fig. 1, a portion of the approach to the garage being broken away. v

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view as indicated by line 3-3 of Fig. l.

Figure 4 is a plan view of the, outer end portion of the approach and the depressible operating members thereon for the door re 4 leasing means.

Figure 5 is an elevation of the lower side of the sliding plates which co-operate in forming a keeper for the locking bolt carried. by one of the doors.

Figure 6 is a sectional view asindicated by line 6-6 of Fig. 5. Figure 7 is a perspective view of the device for rendering the operating connections either inoperative or operative, asdesired.

Figure 8 is a vertical sectional view of the device shown in Fig. 7..

OF PORTLAND; OREGON, ASSIGNOB'OF ONE-HALE TO E. Jvf VENNEWITL'OF PORTLAND, OREGON r Y i Figure 9 is a horizontal sectional viewon line 99 of Fig. 8. In the drawings the numeral 1 designates a door frameto which a pair of doors 2 and, 2 are hinged,

the upper end of the door 2 being provided above briefly described,

with a well known latch 3 for securing it to the frame, while the door 2 v V a night l'atch 2 for locking it'to the door 2, so that unless the latch 2 is released, the

door 2? cannot be opened withoutfirst opening the door 2.. To prevent opening of the v a by unauthorized vpersons, I

door 2 however, provide an improved form of locking means co-operable with the bolt 3.. .Anelongat'ed rectangular guide plate 45. is secured'fiby is equipped with i screws or the like 5 to the crown'of the frame 1', one longitudinal edge of said the bolt 3, said edge being formed with guide flanges 7 at opposite sides of said notch. The other edge of the plate 4 isprovided with a longitudinal guide flange 8 I clearly inFigs. 2 and 8. A pair of springpr'essed bolts are provided between the flanges 7 and 8, said bolts. being preferably in the form of metal plates 9 whose inner ends are provided with notches 10 jointly forming a keeper for the bolt 3. The outer ends of the plates 9..are"provided withlatwhich terminates short of itsends as shown plate being i provided with .a notch6' adapted to receive eral earsf l'l at the ends of the flange 8. and i vthese ears are connected by a coiled spring 12gwhich normally pulls the plates9 into abutting relation with each other as shown, so that the bolt 3 will be held against outward movement to normally look both doors in closed position;

A cable or the1 like13 leads from the'lug '11 of one of thebolts 9, is

trained {around suitable sheaves. 14, and extends outwardly from the garage doors, at one edge of a suit able apprOachL15.

pair of 'depressible operating,members; 16

are located, whichare to be struck and de pressed by the wheels of an approaching automobile'. The members 16 in the form of metal plates secured upon rock shafts 17 which are mounted on the approach 15 in any suitable.manner,' the shafts 17-.being provided with depending Kcrank Upon this approach, a

are by preference arms l'S, to ofwhich the cable'lfiisfconw :v.

- however, the lateral nected. To the other crank arm 18, a cable 13 is connected the two cables 13 and 13 being housed within pipes or the like 19 or protected in any other desirable manner. The cable 13 extends into the interior of the garage, is trained around a sheave 14* and extends upwardly from this sheave to a coupling device 20 by means of which it is connected to a cable 13 trained around an upper sheave 14 and connected with the lug ll remote from the cable 13.

By the arrangement shown, when an automobile is driven to the garage and depresses the operating members 16 against the action of the spring 16 the Several cables are pulled upon so that both of the bolts 9 are released against the tension of the spring 12, the result being that the latch 3 is free to move outwardly to permit simultaneous opening of the doors 2 and 2 This opening is eifected by weights 21, cables 22 con-. nected to said weights and trained over sheaves 23 and arms 21 on the doors to which said cables '22 are connected. To then hold the doors in open position, particularly when a strong wind is blowing, the lower ends of said doors are provided with pivoted catches 25 which are adapted to engage stakes or the like 26.

When the machine has been driven into the garage, the coupling 20 may be rendered inoperative so that the simultaneous release of both bolts 9, which is necessary to open the doors of the garage, is prevented. This coupling member is constructed in any suitable manner for accomplishing the desired results, but it by preference is formed in the manner shown. A tube 27 is connected by a bail or the like'28 to the cable 13", said tube being provided in its lower portion with a longitudinal slot 29 having a lateral extension '30 at its upper end. A link 31 is slidably received in the tube'27 and is connected at its lower end with the cable 13*, said link having a lateral arm '32 .positioned in the slot of the tube and received in the lateral extension 30 of said slot when the connection 20 is in operative condition, that is, when the machine is out of the garage. After the automobile has been driven into the garage, arm 32 is moved out of 30 of the slot 29, with the result that any downward pull on the link 31, by means of the cable 13 will merely slide said link id y within the tube '27 and will notpull upon the cable 13 to release the bolt :9 to which said cable 13 is connected. It will be seen, however, that as long as the arm 32 is in the lateral extension 30 of the the lateral extension 'slot'29, any pull upon the cable 13 will correspondingly pull the cable 13 to release the latch 9 above mentioned.

When the arm 32 of the link 31 is moved out of the extension 30 of the slot 2 9,the link 31 is'supported by acoil'edspring'31 within the tube 27 and any downward pull on said link will stretch this comparatively weak spring so that the cable 13 will not be moved. In some instances, if desired, the spring 31 might well be omitted.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that 1 have provided an extremely simple and desirable arrangement of parts for automatically opening a garage door when a machine is driven up the approach thereto and for positively preventing release of the door locking means when the machine is in the garage. About three hundred pounds weight is necessary to depress each of the operating members '16 and hence it is practically impossible for anyone to release the garage doors when the machine is out and the coupling 20 is in operative position, but as soon as the proper machine returns and depresses the members 16, the doors will automatically open.

It will be understood that while one form of my invention has been disclosed, the device may be embodied in numerous other forms within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a door and a lock therefor, of an operating member disposed at the outer side of said door, and connecting means between said opera-ting member and said lock comprising two operating connections movable relatively without releasing the lock, and means whereby said connections may be operatively connected to permit said operating member 'to release the lock. I

2. The combination with a door and a lock therefor, of an operating member disposed at the outer side of said door and connecting means between said operating member and said lock, convertible at will into an elastic inoperative character or into aninelastic operative nature. v v

3. The combination witha door and a lock therefor, of an operating member disposed at the outer side of said door and lock-releasing pull means connecting said lock with said operating member and comprising 'a pair of pull members, relatively movable coupling members connected to said p'u'll members respectively, and means for positively connecting said coupling members with each other or for disconnecting them to prevent operation of said "lock releasing ipull means.

4. The combination with a door and lock therefor, of an operating member disposed at the outer side of said door and lock releasing pull means connecting said lock with said operating member and comprising a pair of telescopic coupling'm'embers and pull mem- 'bers connected respectively thereto, the outermost of said coupling members having a longitudinal slot provided with a lateral throat, the innermost coupling member being provided with a lateral arm adapted for normal disposition in said lateral throat.

5. The combination with a door frame, a pair of hinged doors mounted on said frame, means for locking one door to the other, and a releasable latch on the upper end of said other door; of a pair of spring-pressed looking bolts at the upper end of the door frame, co-operating to form a keeper for said latch, cables connected with said bolts, guides over which said cables are trained with their ends depending at the sides of the frame, a pair of depressible operating members spaced outwardl from said doors, one of said cables belng connected to one of said members, an additional cable connected to the other operating member and extending into the garage, and a coupling member connecting said additional cable with the other of said pair of cables, said coupling member on itself to provide being formed oftwo members which may be quickly disconnected from operative engagement with each other. 6. A door release for co-action With a bolt on a door, comprising a rectangular plate adapted to be securedto the upper end of the door frame, one edge of saidlate having a bolt receivin notch and being folded lo gitudinal guide flanges at opposite sides of said notch, the other edge of said plate being folded upon itself to form an additional longitudinal guide flange which terminates short of the ends of said plate, a pair of latch plates slidably mounted between said guide flanges and having bolt receivin inotches in their inner ends, said latch plates eing provided with lateral cars at the ends of said additional flange, and a tension spripg connecting said ears.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

ALBERT A. UNRUH. 

